CHARLOTTE — Mecklenburg County’s Jail North is one step closer to reopening as officials work to address overcrowding at the county’s main detention center.
County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow Sheriff Garry McFadden to move forward with the first phase of reopening the facility, which closed in 2022.
“We are facing an overpopulated detention center,” McFadden told commissioners.
Sheriff’s Office staff said the detention center population has continued to increase over the past 10 months.
“For the past 10 months, the population has not decreased; it has continued to increase each month since House Bill 307 was signed into law,” Andrey Melkonyan said.
[ PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Jail North could reopen as Mecklenburg County jail population increases ]
House Bill 307, also known as Iryna’s Law, ended cashless bail and tightened pretrial release restrictions.
McFadden said the increase in the jail population is not solely because of the law.
“The rapid rise of crime in our city and they end up in our detention center,” he said.
Phase one of the reopening would include four 56-bed housing units, creating 224 additional beds that could be used to transfer people from the Central Detention Center to Jail North.
The reopening is expected to cost about $3.2 million. Officials said the money will come from federal and state revenue, as well as Sheriff’s Office funds collected through concealed-carry permit fees.
“There is no impact to county dollars,” Melkonyan said.
Commissioners said they believe reopening the facility is necessary to address the overcrowding.
“This seems very necessary, and it also seems like a public health matter,” Commissioner Elaine Powell said. “In overcrowded conditions, a lot of things can happen.”
The discussion also included the possibility of using some of the space for juvenile detention as officials continue to address violent crime involving young people.
“Theoretically, we could use some of that for a juvenile detention center,” Commissioner Laura Meier said.
McFadden said he wants to continue working with William Lassiter of the state Department of Juvenile Justice before making that decision.
“If we can let this rest and let myself and William Lassiter of the Department of Juvenile Justice work this out ... we will be successful,” McFadden said.
For now, commissioners have given the Sheriff’s Office the green light to proceed with phase one of reopening Jail North.